4.1 Independent Project One

What you photograph in this project is completely up to you. It could be a portrait of your kids, a landscape, something for your classes/classroom, a themed image, etc. Make it challenging, useful and fun for yourself. I'm sure I'll enjoy it too.

There is so much helpful information online - if you googled, "landscape golden hour desert", you are going to get back examples, tips, and lessons galore. You are absolutely not alone - gazillions (that may be a small exaggeration, it's more like bazillions) of folks like us are looking to share ideas towards improving our photography.

If you are looking for additional ideas, there are numerous weekly photo challenges that could provide motivation, peer feedback, and bring out the competitor in you. Jump in, get inspired and submit your photo to the group and this assignment.

Post your independent project photo here for evaluation. You may embed image(s) in your post or if they are large and you want to show them off in higher resolution, you can attach them. You may also do both as described in the video below. You are welcome to post several images.

Also, write a paragraph describing your project. You might include some of these thoughts:

What you did for this assignment.

How you composed the shot - lighting, camera settings, gear, etc. Less can be more!

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

I have been working on this spider for two weeks. The focus was a real problem with all the foregroung images. With an overcast day and the spider in the right spot I think I got it. I added some light zone effects and got thisd result

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

There is a tiny pond within walking distance from my house. I used to take my kids there when they were little to feed the ducks and see the bunnies. It is a small little oasis in our otherwise suburban neighborhood. I went out there to take some of my pictures for the light assignment, and realized that I have never really looked closely at the details in the environment. So for this assignment I just spent quiet time observing the small, up close details. The rings on the pond where the duck was paddling; the greenery floating in the pond, the leaves of the willow tree. I noticed the way the light hit the pond and the tree, and the wide variety of greens. I was a tranquil experience, slowing down to notice my surroundings. For camera settings, I played around with a variety of settings, testing different ideas to see what I liked best. I took over 100 photos, and selected the ten I liked best to edit a bit and submit.

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.
What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com
When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.

Scott Landwehr

I have been doing Infrared (IR) photography since back in the film days when I would have to keep the film in a cooler to keep it from not getting too hot and effecting the exposure. I love the out of this world effects with IR. I had an old Canon 10D that I was not using and sent it to to have it converted to IR dedicated camera. I have used this camera in my photo class for years. Each student gets to use it for two weeks. I am hoping to be able to convert my old Canon 40D so we have two to use. All digital cameras are already IR sensitive, what they do is remove the IR filter in the camera and replace it with a dark red filter.

What I love about IR is that the sky and water go dark which makes for a great backdrop for the subjects who go very light. It makes for great drama in IR images. I set a custom white balance in the camera by taking a photo of something green and telling the camera that will be white. If you look at my images you can see that they are not just BW but more of a sepia tone which I love the warmth. See How To Shoot Infrared lifepixels.com

When I edit the image I also like to put a blur in the highlight which makes it look how IR film used to look. I think my love for simple BW comes from my film days when working in the darkroom, and I just love the simplicity of IR BW images. I would highly recommend everyone trying IR -- you will get hooked.